When selling your house the question always comes up, should I sell it in it’s current condition or fix it up? I get asked this at just about every listing appointment.
There are several low cost things you can do to prepare your house to sell. The most important thing to do is clean, clean, clean everything inside and outside. Painting with neutral colors, declutter as much as possible, take down personal and family pictures, re-caulk bathrooms, get carpets cleaned or replaced, mow and pressure wash the driveway and sidewalks.
10 Important Upgrades to Get Your House Ready to Sell
Most of these upgrades are fairly cheap but will require a lot of elbow grease. You only have one chance to make a first impression.
- Let’s start with the front and curb appeal since this is the first part of the house a potential buyer will see. Check out this article I wrote about the importance of curb appeal. Simple things like mowing the yard, mulch, weeding and trimming bushes make a big difference.
- Clean the front porch, door and the area surrounding it. Paint the front door to make it stand out or pop. Try a red, blue, green something besides white. Get rid of the spider webs, dirt/mud dauber nests, wasp nests and ants.
- If walls are in bad shape or have bright colors patch and paint them. Stay with neutral colors like grey, beige and off white. Here’s a good article from USA Today about paints, colors and texture. Painting is the cheapest way to remodel, don’t forget the baseboards and trim.
- Bathrooms especially showers have built up soap scum and old moldy caulk. Bathrooms need to smell good and be clean and shinny. Re-caulk that old molded caulking. A tube of bathroom caulk is less than 5 bucks. Replace that broken toilet paper holder and shower head with a handheld adjustable one.
- The flooring whether carpet, vinyl, wood, lament, or tile needs to be clean and free of stains or odor. Here’s an article on whether you should replace your carpet before selling your house.
- Light fixtures and ceiling fans are overlooked most of the time but can make your house look old and outdated. Home Depot, Lowe’s or any other home helper store has these items at a reasonable price. YouTube is full of instruction videos on replacing lights and fans. It’s unbelievable the change to a room new fixtures make.
- Declutter your home as much as possible and store it somewhere out of the house. You don’t what buyer’s to have the impression that the house is small because of all the stuff you’ve accumulated over the last 10-20 years.
- Depersonalize your house by removing personal and family pictures and items. The buyer needs to picture their family in the house not yours. It’s also a distraction for the buyer if there are a lot of pictures.
- Clean the kitchen from top to bottom. Under the sink, microwave, range hood, inside the oven, cook top, floor, dishwasher, everything. The kitchen is usually the most important selling feature of a house. Remove everything off the counter that’s not nailed down, we want the impression of a lot of counter space. Consider replacing the pulls and possibly the faucet.
- This may sound weird but clean or replace slight switch and plug covers. If the switches and receptacles are the old almond color and worn consider replacing them also. Take a good look at door knobs and handles, if they’re old and worn replace them also.
Looking Inside the Mind of a Buyer
When your preparing to sell your house think like a prospective buyer. Don’t do improvements or pick colors that just fit your style and taste. The buyer has to picture themselves living in the house. If they’re thinking their furniture isn’t going to match the color of the walls you lost them.
A buyer or buyers have a picture or fantasy in their mind as they look at houses. We want to make that dream come true not bust their bubble. It starts from when they drive up to the house and ends when they drive away, hopefully to make an offer at the agents office.
To see what colors are trending go to new construction open houses, check Pinterest, Better Homes and Garden, HGTV and even paint stores. When it comes to paint color you want to stay neutral not be the one with red or purple walls. Going to open houses in your area is also helpful to see what your competition is also.
Get as much light into each room as you can. Leave blinds open, add special lighting and as mention earlier replace old aged lights with new bright and fresh lights. You don’t want the buyer to think the house is dark and gloomy.
Kitchens are still KING and the focus needs to be on doing as much wow as you can on your budget. The kitchen and bathrooms are the only rooms in the house that have something different than four walls and a closet. Adding a back splash, there are peel and stick types, or a new faucet creates a sense of being updated. New counters or painting cabinets is more in depth but may help sell your house faster.
When a buyer looks at a cluttered room full of furniture they’re thinking the house is either messy or smaller than it really is. Even though it may be spotless clutter gives the impression of not tidy. If possible remove 40-50% of furniture in each room. We want the rooms to look large not small.
Many first time home buyers are coming from apartments or rental houses that weren’t maintained well and have that rental feel to them. Old worn out carpet or flooring will make them think your house may be a rental or not maintained. Even though the house isn’t new construction it’s new to them so all the new fan’s, switches, faucets and flooring give them the impression that it’s a new house.
The grass needs to be mowed, the flower bed need color, the drive way and side of the house needs to be pressure washed. Mulch can add color and fill voids in the flower bed. Rake up leaves and clean rain gutters. You want the house picture perfect for listing photos and showings.
Bathrooms are another important room to buyers. Remove as much as possible off the counters and floor so it appears to have plenty of space. Check under the sink for any leaks or rotten wood from prior leaks. Replace the toilet seat if it’s old or stained. We want the bathrooms fresh and clean, isn’t that one of the first things you check when your at a hotel?
Is It Worth It
So is all this work worth it to sell your house. You may not recover all the extra money you put into updating your house on a one to one return on investment, but if your house sells faster isn’t it worth it.
There’s a thing called holding costs that you need to consider especially if the house is vacant. The longer you have to hold on to the house the more you will have to pay in mortgage, insurance, property taxes, electricity, gas, water and possible HOA fees. These numbers need to be added to your return on investment if you have to hang on to it for a few more months.
When selling your house the first 2-3 weeks are the most crucial. If your house is priced right, presents well and easy to show you should have an offer in this time period. If not you need to look at the 3P’s Price, Product or Presentation. If your house hasn’t sold in a couple months this article might help.
You need to have a plan when preparing your house to sell. This isn’t something you can just decide and do that day. If you want to sell your house before the competition and not let it sit on the market for months you need to get organized. I suggest getting in contact with a good Realtor your friend or family can recommend. They can do a walk thru of your house and help you come up with a plan to sell your house quickly, after all isn’t that what they get paid for!